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Reimer bending over backwards to succeed

By Kevin McGranSports Reporter

Mon., Oct. 3, 2011

The overnight sensation that was James Reimer last season didn’t just happen.

Behind his out-of-nowhere emergence as the Maple Leafs’ No. 1 goalie were years of mind-busting customized Matrix-like workouts for goaltending reflexes — the result of a chance meeting, really — at a fitness centre in Maple Ridge, B.C.

Leafs netminder James Reimer has worked on his game and fitness the past few summers under the guidance of trainer Adam Francilia of Maple Ridge, B.C. (Rene Johnston / TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO)

Given the devout religious beliefs of the two principles — Reimer and trainer Adam Francilia — there may have been more than mere chance at work.

But Leaf Nation can be thankful that they met.

After Reimer finished his junior career in Red Deer, Alta., he headed for Maple Ridge to spend the summer with his girlfriend and her family, but needed a place to work out.

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“I went driving out there, saw a bunch of guys my age running around,” said Reimer. “It was summer, so I knew it wasn’t high school. I found a guy under a tree holding a stopwatch.”

That was Francilia.

“He saw the group I trained with, and followed us and pulled up in his car and said, ‘I’m out here for the summer and I want to train.’ He just walked in,” recalls Francilia.

But Reimer posed him with a problem: All professional athletes have come a long way in their off-season training, but how do you train a goalie?

“They’re different animals. Anyone who wants to get in front of a 100-mile-an-hour puck has to have a little wrong with him,” said Francilia. “They have certain demands, the real trick is to understand what those are and cater to them.

“Other than the fact they happen to be on the ice with the rest of the team, it’s a completely different sport. The demands, physiological and with the nervous system, are really different.”

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So Francilia developed a program and called it Matrix training, after the Keanu Reeves movie with all the special-effects-aided bending backwards scenes. Except Reimer had to do it for real.

Francilia puts Reimer in a fixed position — standing, or the butterfly — then makes him reach for points beyond his limits. He forces Reimer to hold the position, exhausting his core stomach muscles. Behind and around Reimer are poles in an arc. Francilia yells out the patterns of the poles he has to touch.

“He’s kind of always had that farm strength,” said Francilia. “He’s a really strong kid. Part of the challenge he had was quickness, mobility, core strength and … developing endurance.

“Stuff like that has enabled him to gain a lot of explosiveness in the lateral movement, in being able to cover a lot of ground in his net and being able to make those saves. He’s really able to stop stuff with his legs.”

Good and exhausted, Francilia lets Reimer’s body rest, but not his mind. A goalie has to concentrate for 60 minutes, after all.

“I’ll have a sheet of paper with all the letters of the alphabet on them. The letters are in different sizes, scattered all over the page,” said Francilia. “I’ll take him to where he’s super exhausted, and I’ll get him to do the alphabet, find each letter with a pen, and I’ll time him.

“That will be his rest break. His brain’s not able to rest, but his energy system is able to rest.”

That’s been their routine the past few summers. This year, Reimer added one element — a new diet. Gone are cheeseburgers, junk food and processed food. In are organic food, lots of vegetables, the right amount of protein.

Reimer came to camp 20 pounds lighter, and — he hopes — with faster reflexes.

“It’s not just nutrition that changes the outward part, the big reason why his body is responding the way it has, it’s nutrition that changes what I call the inner eco-system of the body,” said Francilia. “That all blends into having more energy.

“A lot of the guys don’t appreciate the science of recovery. We’ve been working on that year after year.

“He really knew what he had in front of him, and what the expectations were and the opportunity he played himself in to. He wanted to know everything he could.”

Ah, there it is, expectations. They are huge on Reimer. He’s got a multi-million dollar, multi-year contract.

And now all he has to do is outplay some of the best goalies in the NHL — Ryan Miller, Martin Brodeur, Carey Price — on a regular basis if the Leafs are serious about a playoff spot.

Is he ready?

“I think so,” said Reimer. “It’s just stopping the puck. Just having fun. I love to play the game. I love to practise. I’m sure there’s more pressure. The puck’s the same size. I don’t think it shrunk. Just do the same things I did last year and hopefully it goes well.”

Maybe that’s where his faith steps in, helping him in good times and bad. A belief that he’s not alone.

“The pressure that is on him this year in Toronto, he’s got such a great balance in his life, such a great disposition,” said Francilia. “He doesn’t take on the notoriety, he finds it silly. ‘Why is everybody getting so excited over just a guy like me?’

“He has great people around him, his family, his wife, her family. It can get to anybody no matter who you are, but I really think he’s going to be okay with the pressure.”

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